First Steps

A few days passed quickly for Eudokia. The new life was like nothing she ever knew before. She never felt hungry and no one feared her. She had a massive room with more things to play with than she could possibly know what to do with. Every day, he came to her room and played with her for hours. Despite him having other duties, he always made time for her. His aides often had to pull him away.

She felt the warmth.

However, after time passed she realized something. “Why can’t I leave this room, daddy?” Every time he left the door was locked. She even tried opening, but found that even with her powers nothing freed her.

He smiled at her and patted her on the head. Kneeling down, he came eye-level with her. “The palace is a big place. You’d make me very scared if you got lost.”

“But I want to see the sky.”

The King leaned back a bit, forgetting how sheltered of a life the girl had up to moving in with him. She never went out of the Slums. The only sky she was used to seeing was the ceiling of the city. So many experiences that seemed normal were foreign to her. He grinned a little, having come up with an idea. “Ok, I’ll take you outside, but you have to stay with me at all times. Promise?”

“I promise!” Eudokia leapt up to hug him, unable to hold in her excitement. “Thank you, daddy!”

Chapter 241 – First Steps

“It’s so big!” She tried to stretch her hands out to the open blue sky. Her deep green eyes couldn’t be pulled away. It looked to reflect through her. “And it really goes on forever, daddy?”

He couldn’t help but laugh a little. “That’s right. It’s so big you could run after it and never be able to touch it.”

“Wow!”

Just watching her excitement was enough for him. It made him smile. An uncontrollable cough suddenly overtook him. It sounded horrible reaching up from his feet, but it passed quickly. She looked back at him a little surprised. “Just a little cold going around. I’m fine.”

It wasn’t much later that the first meeting happened for her. The King opened the door to Eudokia’s room. He looked very happy. “Eudokia! I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet!”

“Daddy!” She dropped the blocks she played with to run over and hug his leg. “Who is it?” The thought of another face got her energy levels rising.

However, when he stepped aside to let them in, the sight of the new person completely changed the mood. She immediately hid behind his legs the moment she saw his face. Too excited to notice, the King tried to introduce them, but ended up doing so to the air. “This is Demosthenes Alexander.” It took him only another second to realize Eudokia wasn’t in the same spot before. “Where’d you go, dear?”

Standing rigidly at the King’s side, Demosthenes looked like he wanted to receive another order. Yet, the King’s lack of sensing the mood and desperately trying to find his daughter left him a little out of place. “Your Majesty, the Lady Eudokia is behind you.”

A little embarrassed for not seeing her sooner, he laughed nervously. “Thanks, Demosthenes! How’d she get there?” He still didn’t see it. He knelt down to pick her up. The shaking in her body immediately became clear to him. “What’s wrong, Eudokia? You’re shaking like a tree.”

“He’s scary.”

He looked a little surprised back at Demosthenes, still strictly maintaining his discipline. “What this guy? He’s an old softy.” The King rubbed Demosthenes’ head while he failed to react. “See, he won’t do anything bad to you.” He poked Demosthenes a little in the cheek trying to show his daughter.

She wasn’t convinced and tried to hide behind the King as much as possible. “He’s got scary eyes.”

“What?! No…” He looked over at Demosthenes, staring quite intently at him, getting almost uncomfortably close. “Maybe you’re right. Demosthenes, do something about those eyes of yours. You’re scaring my daughter.”

“Yeah!” Eudokia added in for extra measure. She immediately lowered herself back down afterwards just in case of retaliation.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. This was the face I was born with.”

The King slapped him on the back trying to get him to budge from his statue-like posture. “You’re too serious, old friend! I’m always telling you, you need to loosen up!”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

A little annoyed by Demosthenes' resistance, the King turned to his daughter. He started to whisper to her suspiciously. “Think that’ll help?” She nodded slightly to him, clearly nervous about whatever he told her. “Demosthenes, I order you to sit down here, seiza style.”

“Seiza, Your Majesty?”

“Japanese! Whatever, just sit down and don’t move. Also close your eyes.”

Demosthenes’ eyes finally slid over to look at the King. He wanted to see the look on his face. Though the man tried to hide it, there was clearly a mischievous plot hiding behind the innocent face. However, the man was his superior and King. “Yes, Your Majesty.” All he could do was obey and pray his Majesty’s eccentricity didn’t go too far.

“There! I think that improves him a lot, don’t you?”

“No, he needs more there, daddy!” Eudokia had started to get really into it part way through. She directed most of the efforts now.

“I think you’re right!”

“Your Majesty?”

“I thought you were a statue, Demosthenes. Statues don’t complain.”

“Yes…Your Majesty.”

“All done!” The King nodded to himself with pride. He looked over to Eudokia. She looked pleased as well. Summoning up a mirror, he handed it over to Demosthenes. “What you think? I think it really does wonders to improve that scary face of yours.”

Even Demosthenes’ stoic, rigid nature cracked a little beholding the paint job done to his face. He turned a little blue as depression set in. The father and daughter pair seemed especially happy with the results. “Yes…Your Majesty.” He resigned himself.

“So Eudokia, what you think? He friendly now?”

“Yeah, daddy!” She had trouble not laughing for more than a few seconds.

“So let’s do those introductions once more. This Demosthenes Alexander.”

“De-De-Dem…Alice?” Eudokia received help from her father in trying to say his name. It continued to only come up with mixed results. “…mos…hand…er…Moss head! Moss head!”

Demosthenes’ inner self screamed and cracked. He didn’t know how to react. She seemed so pleased to have gotten his name…wrong. He sighed in silence. “Lady Eudokia…”

With the introduction out of the way and Eudokia content, the two old men stepped out of the room. The King’s playful expression dropped the moment the door closed. “You understand your orders?”

“Yes. I’ll watch over her in your stead when you’re unable.”

“More than that, Demosthenes. I want you watching the eyes that watch me as well.” He looked around the hall. “No one can know about her, not until the time is right.” A coughing fitting broke out in the middle of his orders.

Demosthenes quickly moved to help him out. “Are you alright? It’s getting worse isn’t it?”

He recovered quickly from the interruption as though it never happened. “Yes, but it’s only brief.” The look in Demosthenes’ eyes told him enough of his concern. “Don’t make that face. We both knew this day was coming. I’ve known my fate since I’ve become King. Keep looking to the future, not regretting the past.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“So, the King…my father, was sick?” Yuki interrupted. The story seemed like it was concluding anyway. There was little more he could gain from her story. Plus, they had arrived at their destination. “Is that what…killed him?”

Ayumi manipulated her Field to create a wood door in the support column of the palace. She opened it up granting them access to the interior. A simple, but massive chamber filled with nothing but gigantic columns spaced every three meters. Along the wall was a stairwell, the long climb up. Once Yuki was inside, the door closed and then disappeared. “That’s correct. Though the council plotted against him for years, it was that that actually took his life.”

They started up the stairs. It seemed like a very long walk. “But with your power can’t you just make medicine to fix him?”

“There was no medicine to cure him. It was beyond our control.”

Yuki paused on the stairs. ‘There’s something beyond their power? What could it be?’ The thought of some disease killing the King consumed his thoughts. It was something he lived with for years. He looked up at Ayumi. ‘He was so important to her. How can she still be moving forward after losing someone so important?’ Yuki had seen moments of weakness out of her in desperate times, but he never saw her sad over his death. He wondered how she held herself together, was it revenge?

Inside the Titan’s room, Demosthenes appeared before them once more. The gathered Titans sat around their table. Rheia already had an eager look in her eye that she didn’t try to hide. They watched the reports all closely enough. It was obvious what was coming. “I’m granting you all permission to act. The defense of the Capital is now in your hands. Keep them from entering.”

Grinning with excitement, Rheia leaned back in her chair. “That shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Defense? I’m not interested in defending dirt,” commented Nereus. He still had the same disinterested expression on his face. Even the threat of the invasion breaching the Capital did nothing for him. However, he did see the look he got from the General. “But if it is an order, I’ll do it. Hopefully, they prove to at least be human.”

Glykeria bounced in her chair. She held onto her doll, no longer combing it’s hair. “I hope they have someone that’s fun to play with.”

“They have some interesting abilities, “Teris remarked. “It should be different.”

Ourias looked the most serious about the situation. Something bothered him deep inside. “I won’t allow them to step a single foot inside.”

“According to the last reports, they should arrive in the next hour or two. Depart immediately.” Demosthenes turned away. “I’ve ordered all other soldiers to hold back. You’ll have them to yourselves.” He left the room already with something set on his mind.

Rheia stood up from the chair once he left. “Alright! Pick your targets! I don’t want anyone trying to take the same one!” She drew her finger across the table, dragging on the profiles with her. “This one’s mine, the rest are for you.” Walking out of the room, she smirked a little. ‘You better be everything your report makes you out to be or I’m going to be very disappointed.’

A little over an hour had passed in waiting. The five Titans stood outside of the main gate to the Capital. Their waiting finally ended. The intruders appeared in the distance.

“So we didn’t find Yuki here,” commented Seiji, still looking very tired from last night’s fight. “We didn’t pass him up back there?” He looked back towards the way they came.

“Seiji,” called Saki, trying to get him to quiet down.

“What? We’re looking for Yuki.”

“We have a new problem.”

“Huh?” He looked forward to see what bothered Saki. Five figures all in the same white uniforms they came to expect from the MPs of Atlantis. However, they had a completely different look from all of the rest that they faced. They didn’t even try to hide or use any other ambush tactics. He could feel the difference in the atmosphere. “New problems, all right.”

As they kept moving closer, they exercised caution. It was too late to back away, they all got the sense running away was pointless. Simonides was the first to react out of the normal humans, when they were close enough for him to see them clearly. “They sent the Titans?!”

Everyone looked back at Simonides, who actually looked shaken by their presence. However, it was Nerine that lost her composure. Sweat covered her body. “Titans?! Why them?” The longer she stared at them the more frightened she got. Stories alone were enough for her. Nerine glanced over at the Captain. “You were right, sir. They could bring ruin to Atlantis. We can’t fight them!”

Yumi felt a little warm from the weight of their words. They managed to get victory up to now, but they felt like nothing she saw from the others. “I don’t think we’re going to have much of a choice.”

Grinding his teeth together, Simonides saw each of the Titan members, recalling all of them. However, worst of all it was her. “Even Commander Rheia is out. Things must be bad if they allowed her out.”

Saki stared out at the line up of opponents. One of them seemed to be very interested in her. She could see their eyes only saw her, the rest were just trash to be ignored. “How bad are we talking?”

“She’s the third most powerful and peerless among everyone even in the Titans.”

“That bad…well at least the strength is meaningless.”

“But no one knows what her powers are, I don’t have any information on her.” Public information on the Titans was thin to begin with and their powers were all carefully guarded. Most knowledge was just vague rumors, nothing to trust.

Rubbing her hands together, Saki tried to get the tension that built up out of her body. Everything they kept saying only made things worse. “It’s not like we ever went in knowing what they could do in the past. This won’t be any different.”

Yumi stepped out a little from all of them. She tilted her head back towards her friends. “We’re within reach. Yuki is here somewhere. They are the last thing stopping us. Let’s end things, find Yuki and finally go home!”

Across the Capital, inside the walls of the palace another wooden door opened. Ayumi and Yuki surfaced from their long walk out into a massive square. On the left stood the majestic structure of the Kings and on the right a wall locking them inside. Ahead however, Demosthenes stood awaiting their arrival.

He stepped forward declaring his presence to them both. A spear already rested in his hand, propped up against his shoulder. “I figured you’d come in this way…Eudokia.”

“Demosthenes…”

Yuki couldn’t hold himself back any longer than a second. The sound of the man’s voice was enough to set off the trigger. An image of Kazuhiro appeared in his head. He needed nothing more. A ripple exploded out from Yuki as he blasted forward. “Demosthenes Alexander! I’m going to KILL YOU!”